classicfandomcom-20200222-history
Watership Down Movie (1978) and Watership Down TV Series (1999-2000)
Richard Adams' best-selling tale of feuding rabbits and the search for a new warren on the South Downs is expertly and uniquely adapted for the big screen. A troop of rabbits lead by friends Hazel and Fiver flee their warren after Fiver has visions of their world being turned upside down by some unspeakable horror. That horror arrives in the form of Man who has annexed the land where their warren lies for property development. The troop face many hardships, a river crossing, snares, farmyard encounters, and nightmarish tales concerning the folks they left behind before they arrive at the paradise hilltop of Watership Down. But their idyll is not complete, for there are not enough females amongst them to sustain their new warren. Subsequently, Hazel is injured whilst attempting to release some captive does from a nearby farm. And then the collective are visited by a bloodied and mauled escapee from another warren. We learn of Efrafa and of the dreaded General Woundwort who rules by blood and claw. A plan is unleashed to infiltrate the tyrant's cruel realm and free the does and bucks he holds captive. But the battle will be bloody and desperate, and only the canniest rabbits will survive the encounter... The film begins with a fabulous, wood-cut-style prologue narrated by Michael Hordern. It depicts the rabbits' fable, detailing how they came to be, their enemies, and introducing the guiding spirit of the Black Rabbit of Inle. Then we get in to the film itself, with its ruddy foreground palette and washed watercolour backgrounds. The mood and texture is absoloutely spot on, capturing the inherent beauty and danger of the Downs, the mulched and muddied look of the working farm. Fiver's ominous visions of the future are suitably blood-soaked and the leaping, guiding spirit of Inle remains an evocative memorable image long after the story ends. Production on the film began in 1975. Producer Martin Rosen put together an animation team under the direction of animator John Hubley (funnily enough, they had a studio near Warren Street, in London). Hubley was a hugely-talented maverick who had worked for, and fought against, Walt Disney before moving to Screen Gems where he pioneered a move away from animated realism, to what he saw as being a marriage between design and story. He spent a year on the film, wrestling with ideas and themes. But progress was slow, and he and Rosen simply didn't see eye to eye. Eventually, he parted company with the project, though his spirit lives on in the form of that floating epilogue, when the Black Rabbit comes for Hazel. As for the dazzling prologue, that was further developed by Australian production designer Luciana Arrighi, who was, in turn inspired by native Aboriginal artworks... The road to release was very bumpy. The £2m film was independently financed, and thus had no distributor upon completion. Its dark themes and bloody content weren't everyone's cup of tea. After much rejection, CIC eventually agreed to handle the film, but only if the producers paid for the publicity. After a hasty bout of extra fundraising, the movie premiered at the Empire, Leicester Square, on 19th October 1978. In the UK, "Watership Down" expanded slowly from that platform release to a nationwide run that took the film in to number six in the UK box-office for 1979. The film found adult fans at late-night screenings, and it returned to cinemas in various double-bill performances. Its success was bolstered by the amazing popularity of Mike Batt's theme song "Bright Eyes". This was put out as a single in March 1979, some six months after the film had opened, but it went to number one for six weeks, sold 1,155,000 copies and became the biggest selling single of the year. That Summer, there were rabbits everywhere. They even infiltrated that bastion of bad taste television, "Tiswas". For weeks, every Saturday, this anarchic children's show featured a young lad (Matthew Butler) dressed in a soppy rabbit suit, whilst crying and singing along to the song. He eventually released his version as a rival single! It wasn't all plain sailing, however. "Bright Eyes" seemed to propagate the myth amongst newcomers that this was a soft-hearted children's film, and many parents voiced concern about the film's certificate. Even exhibitors were piqued. In July 1979, industry paper "Screen International" published a letter from the manager of the Peterhead Playhouse who asked why "Superman" had been granted an "A" certficiate, when "Watership Down" (which he cited as being "very violent and frightening") got away with a "U". The film's independent funding had given Rosen creative freedom. But that same freedom also meant that film's big commercial nugget,"Bright Eyes" almost didn't make it in to the film. Mike Batt had actually recorded three songs for inclusion, but they were deemed intrusive. Two were dropped, and in its final film form, "Bright Eyes" includes an extended orchestral break. And take a look at that famous film poster. Most folks only see the stark image of a rabbit in silhouette. But if you look closer you'll see that it's actually Bigwig, caught in a snare. What a brave design. It's hard to imagine an image like that being developed in Hollywood! Or indeed, the movie itself. Almost thirty years on, "Watership Down" remains a dynamic, evocative and at times unflinchingly brutal work. Bloody brilliant, in fact. »''' In 1982 Martin Rosen brought us a chilling adaptation of The Plague Dogs '''» In 2001 Nepenthe returned to the world of the South Downs with a Watership Down tv series. Brighter colours were added to the palette here but there were still hints of those mature themes underpinning the action... Twenty years after the feature-length adaptation of Richard Adams' best-seller, we return to the South Downs to retell the story of the rabbits of Watership Down. The naturalism may not the same, and the blood and thunder has been toned down. But the spirit of the source material is still there, once you dig past its teatime exterior, and the rabbits' spiritual beliefs are also still present in the form of The Black Rabbit of Inle, Flayrah, and more... The soundtrack is strong, with a title theme from Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and voices from Dawn French, Rik Mayall, Stephen Fry, Jane Horrocks and even Phil Jupitus. Keifer Sutherland also "guests" in three episodes as a rabbit called Hickory. Listen out too for John Hurt and Richard Briers voicing General Woundwort and Captain Broom. Hurt and Briers played Hazel and Fiver in the original feature adaptation. Another returnee is composer Mike Batt who gave us Art Garfunkel's chart-topping Bright Eyes single. That song returns here too, with ex-BoyZone singer Stephen Gately on the vocals. Do look out for poor Blackberry who has undergone a sex-change from a buck in the original novel and film, to a doe in this latest production! Three series of "Watership Down" were produced, but only two have ever been broadcast in the UK and even then the episodes were shown out of order, whilst others were dropped altogether - infuriating fans and noncommittal viewers alike, as it made nonsense of the storyline. Others may have followed in Richard Adams' wake, most notably those Duncton Wood badgers and Colin Dann's Animals Of Farthing Wood, but the rabbits of Watership Down will always be the first and best, and this series is a useful way to introduce young viewers to the inhabitants of that extraordinary warren...